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Hangmen

UP UNTIL 1868, when the practice was abolished, public executions were a common entertainment in Britain. Last year only four countries carried them out: Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and Somalia. It took Britain a century between abolishing public executions and getting rid of hanging altogether. This slow revolution in public morality has not, however, been repeated everywhere else. Amnesty International's report on the use of the death penalty in 2011, which uses data drawn from publicly available sources and therefore substantially undercounts many countries (such as China and Iran), notes a worldwide trend towards abolition. But, as the map below shows, there are still plenty of countries that impose the death penalty behind closed doors.

No, it shouldn't. Your comment supplied its own answer: A U.S. soldier acting ALONE killed 16 people. That is altogether different from state-endorsed public executions (sanctioned by legislators), channelled through a criminal justice system (managed by legal professionals), and culminating in the execution itself (watched over by guards). But I think you already knew this.

The abolition of the death penality is only a viable option for developed nations. In poorer countries keeping people locked up and fed for life is a waste of insufficient resources. The prohibitive cost of the American appeals system most certainly do not apply anywhere else.

Without the death penalty (or with an overly complicated and slow one like India's) in developing nations, you are left with extra judicial executions. These numbers do not count the naxalites and independence seekers killed in India or the thousands of people who die in Indian prisons every year. These number do not count the gangsters and crime lords shot down, justifiably, the police forces in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and much of the rest of Latin America. Throughout the developing world there are similar cases.

As much as we are right to question the legitimacy and judgment of the frequently corrupt courts in developing countries, I trust them far more than the discretion of poorly educated and corrupt policemen.

An interesting parameter would be the number of "criminals" killed in confrontations with the police or with the Armed Forces, as in many instances these killings are outright extra-judicial executions. They occur by the thousands in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Russia. Brazilian police, for example, now is better but a few years ago they killed thousands per year. There is also the strong suspicion of the execution of thousands of Tamil prisoners in Sri Lanka, after the collapse of the Tamil Tigers rebellion. Chechenya, Congo, Sudan and Syria are also not better, extra judicial executions seem to be rampant. To be an opposition journalist in Russia is also not safe. Even in developed and democratic countries there are problems. Very recently a Brazilian was killed by the police in Australia and a few years ago another Brazilian was killed in London, UK.

If the US has 43 death sentences and executions, what is wrong with the the people of Iraq?
The Iraqi people ought to press for charges for crime against humanity against ex-president Bush, his VP and others related to the massacre in Iraq.
The same applies to the Libyans - a stable country that is now in ruins by Western Propaganda. This will discourage call by regime change by outsiders!!!!
After all, the justice system is not for awarding punishments to leaders of third world countries only.
Best wishes
Kishore Nair from Mumbai

I have major reservations about the death penalty and the way it's applied here in the US. However, when I hear about stories like this or plainly evil people like the ones in Philly recently who were found to have a bunch of mentally ill people locked in the basement so they could collect the Social Security checks, I'd jump for the death penalty. I know people are going to say, "it's society that's broken" and that the neighbors were supposed to know what was going on but that's just not going to happen. If we don't want a nanny state barging into our private lives, how are we supposed to expect our nanny "block captain" to be welcome, either.

I wonder from where you got the information. Shame as a Chinese I never know this--What I know is that the police will make trouble to dissidents in their daily life. Can you list some reliable reports for me? Do not give me websites full of rumors and mistakes like 大纪元 or 新唐人 or so.